A Tattoo on my Heart
by yuniesan
Summary: A soul mate touch happens only once in a life time, the moment you touch their name appears above your heart. Some are lucky and meet their soulmate early in life, others wait years to find them. This is the story of four couples who found their soulmate at a young age, through friends, through rivals, by chance, and by luck. [This is the story of 4 couples]
1. Part One - Josh and Maya

_**"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine."**_  
 _ **— Maya Angelou**_

* * *

When Maya Hart met Riley Matthews she was seven years old, she heard a little girl singing in a window and went looking for a happy place. She found a little girl singing and thought she found a friend. That day she found more than just a friend, because at the moment she climbed in through the window she hadn't noticed a nine-year-old boy sitting on the floor. Riley screamed out and the boy jumped into action.

"What are you doing?" he said grabbing her by the collar of her shirt.

"Please, don't say anything I just wanted to find a friend," she pleaded with the boy, and then their hands touched and a faint buzzing went through them.

Maya gasped as she felt the name write itself out on her skin, the boy dropped his hand from hers and stepped back his eyes wide before he pulled his collar away and looked down.

"Maya," he said and she looked at him as though the air in her lungs was being sucked out of her lungs. She hadn't believed in soulmates, it had been an old wives tale spun by her grandmother, especially since her parents weren't soulmates and constantly fought one another.

Now standing before her was something she had always thought would never happen to her, she was getting something special for once. Maybe the universe had felt bad for giving her such a terrible childhood, maybe it was trying to make up for it in some way, or maybe she had climbed into the right window at the right time.

"Josh what's happening," the little brunette girl said looking between Maya and Josh.

"I just found my soulmate," he said not sure of how it had happened.

Josh was shocked, he had thought the little girl was trying to come into his niece's room to steal something and instead he had found a once in a lifetime opportunity. He should be mad, but he wanted to hear her side of the story, because he wanted to believe that the universe had given him a good person as a soulmate.

"Can you explain why you came here? You said you were looking for a friend, but can you tell me the whole story?" he asked looking into her blue eyes.

He watched as she sat down next to Riley and smiled at his niece before looking at him. He wondered if the soulmate bond was strong enough yet, it was still new but he knew that soulmates shared something that would rival the greatest love stories. Or at least that's what his parents had told him growing up. They were soulmates, as were his brother Cory and his wife Topanga. It was rare to find them early in life, but when you did it was something to hold close to your heart.

"Well," Maya said looking at him. "My parents were fighting again, and sometimes my dad gets drunk and yells really loud, but this time my mom was throwing things. You see they aren't soulmates, they just married out of continence," she sniffed as if she were holding back tears, but they were threatening to come down anyway. Riley hugged Maya as if it were the most natural thing to do. "They always fight, I didn't think soulmates were real because of it, I had never seen a match before so my whole life I always saw them fighting."

"Don't worry, I'll be your family now," Riley said and it warmed his heart because his niece believed in the best for everyone.

"Maya I am your soulmate," he said smiling at her. "And I'll protect you, but I'll have to do it from afar for a little while."

"Why?" she asked her eyes filled with tears.

"Josh lives in Philadelphia with my grandma and grandpa," Riley said holding Maya close. "He visits a lot during school holidays but he lives there."

"But a soulmate is supposed to stay with their mate, wasn't that a rule?"

"Yes, but we're very young so we're still held down by our families, but maybe I can talk to my parents about something more permanent. And we can talk on the phone all the time," he said sitting next to her. "Riley can help you too, she's a good person."

"Okay," Maya said without protest.

"Don't worry, it'll be like I was never gone."

They stayed in touch as the years went by, Riley staying close to Maya at all times making sure that Maya's heart was protected. Maya's parents divorced soon after they saw the soulmate mark above Maya's heart in the weeks after meeting Josh. They had realized that maybe they rushed into something without thinking, just because it was convenient. Her parents mended their friendship in the years afterwards, soon her mother found her soulmate, and her father found his, but they stayed in New York for Maya who needed to be close to the Matthews.

Maya had gone looking for a friend, and changed the lives of everyone in her family, she had been the key to helping them find happiness even though they hadn't noticed at first. She became friends with Riley, and found a sister she never knew she needed, it wasn't lonely for her anymore she had people who loved and cared about her. They would have sleepovers and talk about their futures, Maya would talk about what she wanted from her bond with Josh, as someone who cared and understood her. She knew the bond didn't mean perfection but she also knew that it meant that they would complement one another in every way. She had started drawing a future set in stars, and somehow found her world in color.

Encouraged by her friends Maya continued to draw, and she would send some of these to Josh on days that they didn't get to talk. Josh would send her stories of his misadventures in school, but about how he was getting along in Philly. When the Matthews went to visit Josh, Maya tagged along. They never kissed or held hands during these years, they just learned about one another, they learned about what it meant to be friends first.

Josh went back and forth as much as he was allowed, until he got to High School and his parents allowed him to go to school in New York, with his brother Cory acting as guardian so that he could be closer to Maya and Riley. Josh had friends in Philadelphia but they weren't as close as him and his soulmate so the move didn't shock him as much as it should have. When he turned sixteen, he was excited to see his soulmate entering High School and being closer to him. Even years later he found it odd that they had only met by chance, but in the end it had been chance that had brought them together.

Maya and Josh made their relationship official when Maya turned fifteen, on a trip to the Mount Sun Lodge with his brother, and his wife and son Auggie, as well as Riley and Maya's mother and her husband Jack and his brother Shawn who brought along his wife Angela.

They sat at the bay window of the resort looking out at the afternoon sun when he looked up at Maya and smiled, pulling out a necklace he had saved up for from working a Topanga's during the weekends.

"So," he said nervously looking at Maya. "I brought this for you," it was a locket with a picture of the day they had met, the day they had found out that they were soulmates. The day that changed both of their lives.

"Josh you didn't have to," she said smiling and taking the necklace anyway.

"I wanted to, because I have something important to say," he looked into her blue eyes as if he could drown in them. "I would like to officially be your boyfriend, even though we're already soulmates, I wanted this to be the moment where we decide for ourselves what we want."

"Josh," she said taking his hand. "The necklace is beautiful, and so is the gesture," he started to think that she was going to reject him. "But, you've had my heart from day one, and I would love to be officially your girlfriend, and maybe one day in the distant future your wife."

Josh felt his cheeks flush as Maya took his hand, though they had held hands before this was the first time where he could feel that their connection to one another had become complete and couldn't help but smile.

Maya couldn't believe her luck in finding Josh so early in her life, their relationship had stay platonic until they were both ready, and although it took them a while to get to where they were she couldn't be happier, but she also wanted the same for her friends and while one had found their mate, the other was still searching for theirs.

The universe had to work harder to make sure that everyone she knew would be happy, because she didn't want anyone to be sad or alone. They all needed to find love.


	2. Part Two - Farkle and Isadora

_**A/N: Just to let everyone know, these are ficlets, they're not meant to be very long but since they limit the amount of words I can put in the summary I didn't get the chance to write it in. It's a series of one-shots following each couple, but mostly for me to get out of the mentality of finishing one fic before I move on towards another. If you don't follow me on Tumblr, my Season 5 fic will start posting in October, so far at 30+ chapters following their junior and senior year. [I'm mirroring BMW, and season 5 is full of so much angst it will kill your soul... or at least that's how I've plotted it out... I need to add some fluff] After that is the full version of The Agent and The Hitman.  
**_

* * *

 _ **"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."**_  
 _ **— Emily Brontë**_

* * *

Farkle was always awkward, of course he was most geniuses are the same in their early age, no one understands them. He met Riley and Maya first and became friends with them, although his awkwardness never bothered them, he usually tried to tone it down. They were his first loves, he didn't believe in what was called soulmates, even though his parents were each other's. He didn't believe in leave his chances to be with someone to a random act of fate. The genius couldn't believe in fate because it would mean that he wouldn't find someone truly compatible. He was confused when Maya found her soulmate so early in life, even with the overwhelming evidence that soulmates existed right in front of him he still didn't want to leave it all to chance.

Isadora always felt flawed in a way, she couldn't deal with human emotions like everyone else, she couldn't act like everyone else. She had no real friends only acquaintances because friends were a construct of an illusionary belief that people would get along. So she studied, and she focused on school, but sometimes being alone made her ache. Her parents kept trying their best to show her love and compassion but it always felt awkward to it, but she tried. Sometimes she could hear her mother crying, fearing that Isadora the girl would never know love because of her Asperger's diagnosis. So she invented an algorithm, to find her soulmate, because she knew if there was one thing for a genius to believe in was love. It was an out of control and highly emotional construct and one that she needed to master so that her mother wouldn't worry so much.

For these two wouldn't know what love was until they truly understood what they were trying to find, or what they were trying to deny. They lived as rivals, but never shook hands, never touched one another, only their competitive natures showing.

For Isadora, she reveled in the competition because it was at least one thing her parents had been truly proud of. She achieved a lot and the believed that her future was set by her mind, even if she didn't understand emotion.

For Farkle, he lived in the moment of competition without thinking of anything else, because he truly believed that he would be able to take over the world and love whomever he chose without the fates deciding. He wanted his equal not some random person of chance.

It would take until middle school, one debate before these two would truly know that what they really needed in life was nearby all along. What was true beauty? In the end Isadora had won the debate, but gained something greater.

"Good work Isadora, you have bested me again," Farkle said holding out his hand.

She took it warily, contact of any kind was something new to her, Riley and Maya had given her the chance at real friends, but it still felt strange to her. But she needed to learn and so she took his hand and a brief moment where their skin touched was all it took to send them both a shock that they never thought they would have.

Farkle pushed it aside, and let the feeling go. To him it was nothing, and it wasn't until he got home and changed his clothes that he saw the mark. _Isadora Smackle_ was tattooed over his heart. All this time he had pushed aside the fact that soulmates existed, that he would never find someone truly equal to himself. Now he saw that the fates truly believed in perfect pairings as she was his true equal, and it frightened him because how could two like forces be together.

Isadora smiled when she saw the mark, it was a true smile and one that she rarely showed anyone, to her Farkle had been the only boy she had ever truly liked. Although they were rivals she always liked his tenacity and his thirst for knowledge. It made her happy that something was right with her world when everything was normally a fight for her to fit in.

"Mama," she said as she walked into the living room. "I have found my soulmate."

She wanted her mother to be happy, and she knew that this was the ultimate gift she could have given her. Her mother smiled and hugged her.

"My baby girl is going to have true love," her mother said kissing her on the forehead.

Farkle and Smackle didn't speak again until High School started almost a year later, Isadora worked on her social skills more often, speaking more with Riley who she believed would be a good partner for this experiment in life. She needed to understand human relationships and since Riley was the one person who spoke with everyone no matter who they were, she knew that she was the best. She insisted that this was for Farkle, but in the end she had gained another special relationship, and that was one of friendship.

"Isadora," Farkle said when he saw her again in one of the advanced science classes.

The two of them were paired with one another, they were freshmen in a senior level class so the teacher thought it best to keep them together.

"Farkle," she said trying to smile but it still felt slightly awkward.

"I understand that the universe sees it fit to place us together, but I cannot believe that we are compatible, we're too alike," he said and although it felt like a crushing weight to her she knew that he needed to understand who she was first before placing their pairing aside.

"I wish to speak of this further, perhaps we can sit in a communal space later today and discuss our futures as well as ourselves."

"We can try," he said but he felt wary of it. Farkle couldn't understand why the universe was trying to place him in this pairing.

 _Soulmates aren't real_ , he thought to himself, because if they were he would be with someone who truly wanted to be one with them and complement him in every single way.

So he went to Riley's mother's café and sat outside with a smoothie in his hand as he waited for Isadora to come. The marking over his heart ached, it had been aching since he received it but he didn't understand it. He rubbed his chest as another person sat down in front of him. Thinking it was Isadora he looked up, instead he was facing Riley's Uncle Josh.

"It hurts sometimes doesn't it?" Josh asked as he watched Farkle rub the spot where the mark was. "I'm only here to give you a little wisdom and then I'll leave."

"What do you know?" Farkle said looking at the older teen.

"I know that I found my soulmate at the age of nine, and when we were apart the mark sometimes hurt, I know that it hurts more when you're separated, as well as when you doubt it," Josh said sipping what looked like coffee.

"So what is your wisdom?"

"Don't deny the mark, it was placed there for a reason, and although Maya and I have been friends all these years I know the mark will mean more when we both acknowledge our feelings as soulmates."

"But why would I be placed with someone that's so much like me?"

"Farkle, sometimes what you see isn't always what is there. Maybe just maybe there's something that you're missing, something you don't know yet, something that makes the two of you so different that the marks make sense," he said before standing up. "Just give it a chance."

With that Farkle watched the older teen walk away, leaving him to think that maybe there was more to this than he truly knew. Was she hiding something? Or was it something that he hadn't noticed because he was trying to push aside the fact that she was his soulmate? He thought about it until the brunette herself sat down in front of him and gave him an awkward smile.

"Are we really the same?" he asked without thinking.

"I don't think we are," she answered him looking at his eyes. "Farkle I know we're both geniuses, I understand that you believe we're the same, but in reality I have tried hard to come to an understanding about myself."

"And what is that?"

"I'm not the person you think I am," she said looking at her hands. "I'm not weird or quirky like others would believe, I have Asperger's and in a way I'm not sure of emotions or physical contact. We never shook hands until that debate in middle school, and it wasn't because we were rivals, I just didn't understand why touch was something that bothered me."

"I see," he said realizing how wrong he had been for so long about the person sitting in front of him. "Maybe for once the universe is right, and I have just been blind to it because I am a man of science."

"I think we both need to learn from this, so that we may grow with one another in a way that we can understand what it truly means to be a soulmate."

"Maybe we just need to get to know each other better, and understand ourselves more," he said holding out his hand to her. At first she resisted before placing hers over his, but once they touched their hearts calmed, it was an understanding that they were truly meant to be.


	3. Part Three - Charlie and Zay

_**A/N: Zay moved to New York first in this story, and yes I made a pairing…. Because I could and I thought it was cute… this pairing is actually in another story I'm drafting because I have nothing but love for them. Why would I put them together, well remember when Charlie asked Riley to the dance, it was so romantic, and Zay loves romantic movies (His favorite movie is The Notebook), so I kept thinking about the two of them. So of course the pairing started taking shape, so this is the first time I'm writing them together.  
**_

* * *

 **Part Three – Charlie and Zay**

* * *

"The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind I was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."  
 _— Rumi_

* * *

Zay moved to New York he felt alone, at fourteen his family had moved from their home in Texas to New York for his father's job. He had to say goodbye to his friends, and family and move cross country and he hadn't liked the move one bit. He wondered if his soulmate would find him if he moved. Zay was a hopeless romantic and constantly shook hands with people when they first met in hopes of finding his one true love. It was silly, he knew that's not how it worked, but it was still something he looked forward to.

"You will find them when you find them," his grandmother said with a smile. "You my boy will fall in love and have a great love story."

When he was in middle school he had fallen for Vanessa, she was a cheerleader, and he watched her from afar hoping that they could have that once in a lifetime. But the moment they were paired for a project and their hands touched, he knew it wasn't meant to be. He was heartbroken, how did people find their soulmates in a world of billions. So he moved to New York, and met Riley, Maya, Isadora, Farkle, and Josh. New friends in a new life, with hopes of finding the person he's meant to be with.

Charlie Gardner didn't understand the soulmate business, his parents worked in an office that helped people find their mates, and they had an incredible success rate, but they couldn't figure out where their son's mate was. So Charlie like everyone else their age, looked for them curious to find that person who they were meant to be with. He used his parent's methods, but they never worked so he gave up and focused on just being a kid. He saw Riley first and fell for her, nearly stalking her to the point where it became weird. When he introduced himself she had given him a small smile but they decided to not test fate just yet and just be friends first.

"There's no harm in it, no hand holding, no hugs, just words and time with one another, we'll find out when we find out," she had said to him.

He itched to touch her to find out, they were compatible in every way, _it had to become something right_ , he constantly thought. One day she invited him over to a movie with her friends, four of which had found their soulmates, and he thought it was a sign that the heavens were pointing their way towards the two of them being together.

They sat down and talked before the trailers started, "There's one more person coming," she said as a guy made his way down the aisle. "Zay over here," she yelled out.

The only empty seat was on the other side of Charlie, near the wall so this curly haired guy with eyes that were big and brown needed to scoot across all of them. For some reason Charlie couldn't help that his heart skipped a beat from seeing him, he couldn't understand it.

"Sometimes with soulmates, when you first see them there are signs that they're your mate, small triggers that normally wouldn't be noticeable," his mother's voice rang through his head. "But if you know them, then you know that the person you're meant to be with is standing there in front of you."

As Zay brushed over Riley's legs he tripped on Charlie's bag and landed on his lap, Charlie's heart hammered in his chest as he helped the other guy get up, as soon as their hands brushed against each other he felt the last trigger, a shock to his system as the name of his soulmate etched its way over his heart.

Zay's breath hitched as he felt it, as the words made their way across his chest and the name of the guy he fell on top of slowly etched its way into his heart. He couldn't believe it, he had never thought moving to New York would give him this, he had been sad that he had to leave his home for the last year. Riley had pulled him out of his darkness and made him go out and meet people, it's how he met all of her friends and became one of them, but somehow he never met this one person.

"What happened?" Farkle asked looking over at the pair with curiosity, especially since they were literally on top of each other.

"Soulmate," Zay said looking into deep blue eyes.

"Get a room," Smackle said out loud making Maya laugh and Josh groan.

"Um… I'm Charlie," the mysterious blue eyed stranger said.

"I'm Zay, well actually it's Isaiah but everyone calls me Zay, but you don't have to," he was babbling someone stop him.

"Would you like to sit over there and get to know each other?" Charlie asked pointing towards two empty seats where no one else was sitting.

"Yeah sure," Zay said, because now that he had found his soulmate he wanted to know everything he could.

The two of them made their way to the back corner seats and sat down, Zay felt nervous he had searched all of his life for this moment and he was only fifteen years old, but now that he had it his heart was an uncontrollable mess. Their friends stared back at them as they walked over to the corner as the movie trailers started.

"Um… I didn't expect this," Charlie said looking down at his hands as he played with the frayed edges of his jeans. "I mean I always hoped that when it happened I would have gotten the chance to know the person first."

"Does that mean you don't want to try and be friends first?" Zay asked watching Charlie as he moved his hands up and down his legs.

"I want to try the relationship part, just slowly… we could just talk for now, maybe hold hands, and just go slow," he said looking up to meet Zay's chocolate brown eyes. "If that's okay with you?"

"I've dreamed of this moment, but I understand especially since we're only here because of them, but… um… can we hold hands now?"

Charlie didn't hesitate and took Zay's hand but Zay knew that the other boy was nervous because his cheeks were tinted pink, even in the darkness of the movie theater he could tell. The nervous energy ran up and down his hand as though the touch was giving them a chance to share their emotions.

"Do you feel that?" Zay asked looking into Charlie's blue eyes as if he could drown in them. Charlie's nod confirmed that they were feeling the same nervous energy.

The two of them hadn't paid attention to the movie after that instead talking about their childhoods, their lives before they met, and their expectations of one another. They learned that they both shared a passion for music, Zay like R&B more than any other genre, and Charlie loved playing guitar, mostly jazz and punk. They both had siblings that were older than them by years so the gap made it awkward to be close to them, and they had both moved to New York in the last few years, Charlie had been in the city for five years moving from California, although he had been born in the city that never sleeps.

When the movie ended and their friends left without saying a word the two of them walked through the city talking about anything they could think about. Charlie took Zay to his favorite bookstore, and Zay stopped by a nearby comic book store so that they could read about each other's favorite superheroes.

"I don't want the night to end," Charlie said smiling. "But… curfew."

"We go to the same school, and we could hang out after school, maybe join a club together," Zay said nervous as the night was ending.

"I would like that," he smiled and Zay felt the tingling sensation all over again.

They walked towards Topanga's to get a drink before they went their separate ways, their friends had been home for hours already, but they didn't want to separate. When the time came Zay stood outside the coffee shop still holding Charlie's hand.

"I had a great time," he said smiling as if the universe had given him the greatest gift in the world, and it had.

"Me too," Charlie said smiling at Zay.

Without thinking Charlie moved forward and kissed the boy in front of him, it was quick but it was also electric. Zay tasted like chocolate coffee and he hadn't known then that it would become his favorite flavor. His other half looked at him shocked for a moment before a smile claimed his face. The night they met was something they would always remember.

On the walk home the two of them thought of the other, it was the beginning of their lives, nothing else mattered as long as they protected what they had, and so that was how Zay drowned in an ocean of blue, and Charlie floated over the sea of chocolate coffee kisses.


	4. Part Four - Riley and Lucas

_**A/N:This is the last one from the Soulmate AU, it really was just something to get out of my head, along with a million other things I wanted to work on. Now off I go to the Superhero AU, and my novel, and my Master's Thesis, and the Fall Semester.  
**_

 _ **All the couples, with the exception of Zay and Charlie, are regulars in most of my stories. But all of the couples are going to be in two stories coming up later on, Zay and Charlie are actually originally from a Battle of the Bands fic I've been plotting out for a while now and I loved them so much that I wanted to keep them, so they're in 2 other stories I have ideas for including the full version of The Agent and the Hitman which is coming up after my Season 5 fic. So far I've put them in three stories, well now four if you include this one, I love them they're cute.  
**_

 _ ** _ **Maybe in the future I'd write more for this, but for now thank you for reading.**_**_

* * *

 **Part Four – Riley and Lucas**

* * *

 **"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began."**  
 ** _— Leo Tolstoy_**

* * *

Riley wasn't bitter, she couldn't be at all bitter about anything… could she? Her friends had all found their soulmates before they turned sixteen, and now here she was just days before her sixteenth birthday and she didn't have a soulmate. She wasn't bitter at all, she was just sad. She felt like the third wheel in their lives as they were all paired off, even her little brother found his soulmate when he was five years old, her parents had known since they were born. The snow was falling outside her window, a rarity in New York in December, but something she was taking in. Maybe the snow would bring her soulmate for her, or maybe the sadness in her heart was keeping them away.

"Snow," she sighed. "Can you help me find my soulmate?"

She continued to watch the snow fall until it was well past midnight, falling asleep at her bay window. Making a wish as she fell asleep that the snow would help her find her soulmate. She was feeling terribly lonely around everyone she knew and it felt like a heavy weight on her heart. Charlie could have been, but she hadn't let him touch her because she had been afraid of finding that person, and in the end he was actually Zay's soulmate.

"The only wish I have is for my soulmate, maybe it's selfish, but normally I'm not a selfish person. This is the only wish I have ever made."

Riley was a selfless person, she had always given the world everything she could without thinking, and yes some people bullied her because of it, and others thought she was too much of a goodie goodie, but she liked helping others without anything in return. She wanted to work in an industry that allowed her to help others, it was her dream. So what was one selfish wish when she gave back so much to the world.

Lucas was in New York ahead of his parents' arrival, like his best friend Zay's parents, his father was transferred into the New York offices. Lucas had come early to transfer into his new High School before the end of the year, he was staying at Zay's house until his parents arrived just before the holidays. It felt strange though, because the moment he arrived he had met Zay's soulmate Charlie, and suddenly there was an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. Zay had someone, and Lucas was still looking unsure of when and where he would meet that person.

Unlike Zay who was a hopeless romantic, Lucas just left everything up to fate and went with the flow of the world. Concentrating on sports and school, so on this snowy day as he went to the school to bring them his papers, he watched the people on the train. The hustle and bustle of the big city was different from anything he had ever seen in Texas, so it was interesting to watch. The train car he was in was packed to the brim with people making their way to school or to work and he watched all the same. Zay had gone to meet Charlie earlier in the morning, they had coffee together in the morning before school started.

So Lucas was alone that morning, December 8th was a good day to watch the people of the city he would now call home. As he moved towards the doors where everyone was crowded, he felt a jolt go through him, but he didn't know where it had come from there were too many people to figure out who had touched him, because they were all touching him. All of a sudden he found the packed train to be a nuisance to him.

Riley felt it, that jolt of energy, the meeting of souls, but in the packed train she couldn't figure out who had been the one. All she was going to have was their name and she had worse a turtleneck dress that day so she couldn't very well take a peek at the name.

"Curse New York winters," she muttered to herself as she was pushed off of the train.

She couldn't help but smile though because it was a wish had been heard even though she didn't know what they looked like. It was a birthday wish that had been granted, now she had a task at hand, to find that person she was meant to be with. Even if she only had their name.

Skipping to school through the snow covered sidewalk watching the people in front of her, wondering which one was the one who had bumped into her. When she walked towards her locker her steps seemed light, it hadn't mattered that it had happened the way it did, she had a soulmate somewhere in the city and she was happy about it.

"Happy Birthday," Maya said hugging Riley from behind. Josh standing behind her smiling before he was pulled into the hug.

"So why are you so happy," he asked when they pulled away from one another.

"I got my soulmate mark," Riley said smiling.

"Who?" Maya and Josh asked at the same time.

"Actually I don't know, I was going to go to the bathroom to check the mark, we brushed against one another on the train, but it's rush hour so I didn't know who it was."

Maya looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Riley it could have just been static electricity or something."

"No Maya I felt it," she said but there was only one way to confirm it. "Come on."

Riley pulled Maya into the girls' bathroom and walked into the stall by herself, as she heard Maya pace from one end to the other Riley pulled up her dress over the mark and looked. She touched it, there was a tender feeling to it the mark was like a scar that needed to heal.

 _Lucas Friar_

She wondered who that was, there had been a number of teenagers on the train most of them went to her school but she had never heard that name before.

"What's the name?" Maya said impatiently.

"It says Lucas Friar, but I've never heard that name before," Riley said pulling her dress back down. "Who could it be?"

"We'll talk about it later let's just go to class," Maya said pulling her out of the stall and towards the sinks so they could wash their hands, before getting to class.

Lucas felt like the world was sinking, he meets his soulmate and of course it happens on a packed train. He walked towards the school and into the office trying not to feel like he had been wronged by the universe. The secretary gave him his schedule for the school year, and sent him on his way. He stopped by his locker and dropped off his coat and backpack before searching for the boys' bathroom. When he was inside of a stall he pulled up his shirt and saw the name over his heart.

 _Riley Matthews_

That could be anyone, it was a unisex name, there was too many people on that train to figure out who it had been. Lucas groaned to himself as he heard the first bell ring, he decided to wait until later to figure it out. Maybe with Zay's help he could find the person, if they were at the same school. His first class was History with a Mr. Cory Matthews, automatically he wondered if there was any relation to the Riley Matthews that was his soulmate. Suddenly his spirits were up, maybe he would have a shot at finding them without too much work.

He walked into the class and automatically saw a brunette with long hair looking back at him, he smiled and walked towards the teacher's desk to hand him the slip from the office. The man looked him up and down giving him an evil eye, and all of Lucas's thoughts about finding his soulmate went out the window. He could tell that this man knew who his soulmate was but judging from the way he was looking at him he wasn't all too pleased about it.

"Take a seat behind Maya," he said pointing at a blonde girl in the middle row.

The brunette that had looked at him when he walked in smiled as if apologizing for the teacher being rude to him. Just as he was about to introduce himself the teacher started the lesson. The man was out to get him he swore it, because he hadn't even introduced him to the class he just made him sit down. As the late bell rung Zay and Charlie both rushed into the room laughing.

"Charlie, Zay, take your seats," the teacher said as the two of them walked towards their desks.

"Hey Lucas, you have this class," Zay said smiling.

At that moment the teacher looked up at Zay with a sneer, _Geez what's the man's problem_ , Lucas thought trying to figure out what was happening.

The brunette that he had been trying to introduce himself to earlier looked at him with a wide eye expression, but just as she was about to speak the teacher grabbed her and pulled her out of the room.

"What's Matthews problem today?" Zay said looking around the room for answers.

The blonde in front of him was the one who answered. "Well it might have something to do with his daughter finding her soulmate and having their name tattoo on her body."

"No way, sugar got her mate," Zay said smiling.

"Who is it?" Charlie asked as curious as Zay was.

"Don't know they bumped into one another, all I know is their name and in a city of millions it might be a little hard to find them."

"Give me the name I'll have my parents check it against the database," Charlie said. All Lucas could do was follow the conversation.

"Oh it was Lucas Friar," she said and his head snapped towards her.

"What," Zay and Charlie both screamed out at the same time.

"Dude really you could have told me," Zay said looking at him.

"Wait you're Lucas?" the girl said before looking him up and down as if she were analyzing him. "No wonder Matthews is freaking out."

Lucas wanted to speak he want to say something but his mind had drawn a blank, the only think he wanted to do was properly speak to Riley who had been dragged out of the room.

"And on her birthday," Zay said bringing Lucas back to the present.

"It's her birthday? I met my soulmate on her birthday?" he said astonished at the odds.

The teacher never came back into the room, a substitute was brought in, and Lucas could feel his face burn from embarrassment because now everyone knew what was happening and he was the new kid. So when lunch came around and he was walking towards the cafeteria dejected at not being able to properly introduce himself to his soulmate, he decided to look on the bright side, he knew who she was now all he had to do was get pass her father.

Someone pulled him into a closet as he rounded the corner and was about to yell at the person when he turned and met his soulmate face to face. The first thing he noticed was he big beautiful brown eyes.

"Hi," she said smiling.

"Hey," he said smiling back at her.

"Hi," she said again and he knew that she was nervous. "Um… I made a wish last night that I would get to meet you today, because it's my sixteenth birthday, and good things are supposed to happen when you turned sixteen, and well here you are."

He couldn't help but smile as she rambled. "It's nice to meet you," he said.

"It's nice to meet you too, and sorry about my dad, he was hoping that I wouldn't meet my soulmate until I was forty… but here you are."

"Here I am," he said before pulling her into a hug. "Happy birthday Riley Matthews."

She giggled into his neck, "I never thought I would be so happy about making a wish on the snow."

"Well I glad you did."

The two of them went to the library after grabbing some snacks and talked the whole lunch period, by the end of the day Lucas had walked her home and Riley was smiling the whole way there. Her father freaked out when he saw Lucas, while her mother welcomed him into the family.

* * *

Soulmates are forever, they're matched because they were perfect for one another in every way. They could fight and cry, but they would always learn from one another, because once they learn to truly love who they're with they will learn to be truly happy with one another… forever.


End file.
